Nine days into my “Shift to Greatness Bike Trek,” I’m discovering something about myself that has confirmed what I knew deep inside to be true. The fact that I, like most, roam around people who share common ideas, beliefs and political views, and that I knew “where” most of my friends would be found. I even knew “what” they might believe and especially “who” they would more than likely vote for. Despite all this, I still believed there were so many more people who had richness of experiences to offer me – if I would be willing to part from my own comfort zone based on a faulty narrative that was actually rooted in my own self-righteousness. The truth is, I don’t think we ever outgrow the deep desire of wanting friends and wanting to believe the friends we have are – friends. Because we live in such polarized times, friendship has become more complicated than ever. We’ve allowed the “god” of politics or religion to override the volition of choice that gives us the freedom of will to connect with people, to have conversation, to enjoy discourse and even to disagree with civility and respect. I’m afraid those days are gone and they won’t ever be coming back as a societal reality. It will take a radical departure – on a personal level – from the deep dark divide that is taking a hard grip on the hearts of Americans. However, not all of the divide is necessarily “dark.” I’m concerned that an “angel of light” has even deceived many into thinking that their ideology, political smarts and...